Avatar Aang: An Annotated Bibliography
by The Big Rocky Eye
Summary: How will the historians of the future see Aang and his friends? What books and stories will they write about them? Find out in the driest, most academic fanfic you'll ever read!
1. Preface

**Avatar Aang:  
****An Annotated Bibliography**

A Reprint of Part 314 (Avatar Aang) of the _Annotated Bibliography of the Avatar_, 20th ed.

Compiled and published by the Society for Avataric Researches

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Preface to the Present Edition

Since the first edition of the _Annotated Bibliography of the Avatar_, it has proved its worth to scholars time and time again. It has evolved, since its humble beginnings, into a near-comprehensive list of any sort of literature about the Avatar's various incarnations. The _Bibliography_, as the first resource most scholars consult in commencing any research on any aspect of the Avatar, has become an indispensable aid to Avataric research. In fact, the Avatar's history being so entwined with the world's history, the _Bibliography_ has begun to see use by researchers for whom the Avatar is only a minor aspect of their research.

It has, for a long time, been suggested that the section on Avatar Aang (Part 314 in the _Bibliography_) be published separately from the rest of the _Bibliography_. Avatar Aang, being one of the most historically important incarnations of the Avatar (though, unfortunately, less publicly recognized than one may expect), has had an immense amount of material written about him. It follows, then, that consulting the _Bibliography_ for information on Avatar Aang has become somewhat cumbersome. It is for the benefit of the many scholars of Avatar Aang, and for historians in general of that tumultuous time, that we present this volume to the world.

* * *

Preface to the 20th Edition of the _Annotated Bibliography of the Avatar_

The _Annotated Bibliography of the Avatar_ has changed and expanded much since its inclusion as an appendix to the third edition of the much-lauded _Lives of the Avatars._ Since then, it has become an invaluable starting point for any researcher of the Avatar. Scholars everywhere testify to the usefulness of the _Bibliography_ as an aid to finding and evaluating resources in the course of their research. More importantly, the _Bibliography_ provides an indication of the ground that has been covered in Avataric research and what work still remains to be done. It is an invaluable list of what information we have and what resources we have to work from. It was the _Bibliography_, after all, that has been credited with the popularization of the fact that Avatar Aang had written extensive travel memoirs of the many places he travelled to in his lifetime—a discovery which confirmed the historicity of the Cave of Two Lovers, whose location was later found with the aid of Avatar Aang's work.

In light of the recent public interest and resulting explosion of literature about Avatars Gu and Kyoshi (Parts 52 and 312 respectively), we have made innumerable additions to their sections of the _Bibliography_. For the 20th edition we have also undertaken a complete revision of the annotations of the sources concerning Avatars Chengge and Aaldrup (Parts 189 and 190) in light of Dr. Kyahamma's famed series of papers, which have brought about—so to speak—a paradigm shift in the historical evaluation of these two Avatars. We have added also the literature on these two Avatars published since the release of the previous edition of the _Bibliography_, including Dr. Kyahamma's papers themselves. Finally, in a nod to the far-reaching influence of the Avatar, we have added to the section for Avatar Aang (Part 314) the various papers written about the Infinitesimals Priority dispute, including the seminal papers on the study of infinitesimals and their applications written by Chief Sokka and Firelord Zuko themselves. It has been argued that the inclusion of such publications in the _Bibliography_ is irrelevant, but in consideration of Avatar Aang's role in the resolution of this particular controversy we feel ourselves justified in doing so.

We follow the first edition of the _Bibliography_ in sorting our listings by importance, placing first what we—in our humble judgement—consider to be most important. In doing so we adhere to the scholastic traditions of all four nations.

Where we have found a particular source to be particularly rare or difficult to access, we make a note of this; otherwise it may be assumed that the source can be found at any reasonably large research library.

Following the precedent set by the third edition of the _Bibliography_, papers published by the great scholar Avatar Hong are listed under the heading of the Avatar they are concerned with, not in the section devoted to himself. Those papers not concerned with any Avatar are listed in his own section (Part 321) along with the other works about him.


	2. Avatar Aang: Collected Letters

Aang, Avatar; ed. Avatar Hong. Avatar Aang: Collected Letters.

A collection of Avatar Aang's correspondence, as collected by Avatar Hong. Also includes summaries of selected replies to his letters, as well as background information where it was deemed necessary. Though letters from his early life are sparse, especially around the end of the Hundred Years' War, he wrote many letters later on. Many of these describe his various travels, which we also have records of in the form of _Places to Go_, his travel memoirs. Others were sent to various heads of states and other people of importance; it is clear from these letters that he held King Bumi I of Omashu, for example, in great esteem. He maintained regular and frequent contact with Firelord Zuko, his old Firebending teacher, by means of letters sent by messenger hawks; these too are preserved in this volume. Unfortunately for posterity, Avatar Hong notes, Avatar Aang was never separated for long by any great distance from his wife Katara or his brother-in-law Chief Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe, and so there are left to us very little of the correspondence between these people. Such correspondence, among other things, would have more fully elucidated Avatar Aang's role in the reconciliation of Chief Sokka and Firelord Zuko. We only have his letters to Firelord Zuko on the topic of the Infinitesimals controversy; and that is, as it were, only half of the story.

It is clear that Avatar Hong has gone to great lengths to make this book as comprehensive as possible; there are no known letters written by Avatar Aang that have not been published in this book. At the same time, however, he is careful not to include forgeries and misattributed letters. He largely succeeds at this; but despite his efforts, Letter 194 (addressed to the Earth King), long thought to be suspect, has finally been shown to be written by Avatar Aang's wife. Avatar Hong refrains from editing the main text except when words are illegible; these he scrupulously notes in the endnotes. His inclusion of "background information" is useful in most cases; some information, however, is no longer accurate according to modern scholarship. His inclusion of summaries of replies to Avatar Aang's letters is a welcome innovation.


	3. Places to Go

Aang, Avatar. Places to Go.

A highly readable and historically important account of Avatar Aang's travels, though the style is somewhat inconsistent and immature. _Places to Go_ was immensely popular during Avatar Aang's lifetime, though it later drifted into obscurity as travel literature became ubiquitous. As one contemporary Ba Sing Se reviewer noted, "it would be more fruitful to list the places Avatar Aang did not include in his book". His travels are far-ranging, running the gamut from Ba Sing Se to the treacherous Si Wong Desert. There is no reason to believe that he did not travel to the places he claimed to have travelled to; in most cases there remain records of his visits in the locations concerned. He gives insightful critique on many of the places he travelled to, some of which retain historical interest in the modern day. His account of Ba Sing Se is an interesting one, as its timing coincides with the beginning of the slow overthrow of the oppressive Dai Li. Similarly, his visit to the Cave of Two Lovers was fortuitous; its existence had long been thought a myth until Dr. Vimala's discovery of the cave on the outskirts of Omashu. The entrance had collapsed, it was discovered, and as its location was far from any established path it was not easy to find. When it was excavated, however, it was found to match up almost perfectly with Avatar Aang's account. Dr. Vimala cites _Places to Go_ as one of the resources she used in locating the cave. Avatar Aang also describes the sad state of the Air Temples in his day, ruined by Firelord Sozin's attempt at world domination. In the present day it appears that the Eastern Air Temple has suffered most since that time; as such, quotes from _Places to Go_ form part of the rallying cries of those who wish to see major restoration efforts begun there.


	4. Life of Avatar Aang

Sokka. Life of Avatar Aang.

A highly entertaining life of Avatar Aang as written by his travelling companion and brother-in-law, Chief Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe. Chief Sokka, well known for his role in the end of the Hundred Years' War, is prone to good-humoured exaggeration ("The monster of the Serpent's Pass, a humungous, thousand-feet-long sea serpent of cosmic proportions..."), but is overall a reliable source. The book describes in exquisite detail every event of Avatar Aang's journey leading to the defeat of Firelord Ozai and the end of the Hundred Years' War, no matter how irrelevant or trivial. One wonders, for example, how important the role of people such as the "Cabbage Merchant" really were. This amount of detail does not persist, however; by the end of the book it reads almost like a conventional biography.

He begins with Avatar Aang's release from an iceberg near the South Pole, his initial mistrust of the Avatar, and their various subsequent travels. In the account of the Siege of the North (also known as the Battle of the Spirit Oasis), Chief Sokka dwells much on a lady whom he calls "Princess Yue". This book contains the only published mention of this name, though legends of this lady are said to have been passed down through the oral traditions of both Water Tribes. It appears that Chief Sokka's work corroborates some details of those traditions while contradicting others, indicating a need for more research in this direction. Chief Sokka also repeats the oft-mentioned claim that Avatar Aang used Energybending to remove Firelord Ozai's ability to bend—a claim, it may be noted, repeated by all his contemporaries—though he does not use the term.

After Firelord Ozai's defeat Chief Sokka records that Avatar Aang commenced travelling a great deal, often taking Chief Sokka's sister Katara with him. He claims that it is during this period that Avatar Aang began courting Katara in earnest, though this is not entirely confirmed. It is certain that they married during an extended stay at the South Pole. Prior to the death of his father, Chief Hakoda, Sokka was a constant travelling companion of the Avatar (in order, so he says, to watch over his sister Katara); they were often joined by Toph Beifong, Avatar Aang's former Earthbending teacher. At the time of Chief Hakoda's death Sokka was called on unanimously by the men of his tribe to take on the chieftainship, after which he, his sister Katara and Avatar Aang travelled less often and settled down to life in the South Pole. Strangely enough, in a departure from his earlier thoroughness he leaves out any mention of his dispute with Firelord Zuko or Avatar Aang's role—however small—in the same.

Chief Sokka records that Avatar Aang's first child was a female who turned out to be a Waterbender. At this time the near-extinction of the Air Nomads began truly to weigh upon the Avatar, so much so that he went into deep depression until the birth of his second child. When it was discovered that this daughter was an Airbender he began to recover, and in fact began the writing of an Airbending manual which he worked on sporadically for much of the remainder of his life. Avatar Aang went on to father five more children, all sons: two of these became Airbenders, while one became a Waterbender; the remainder were not benders. According to Chief Sokka, Avatar Aang spared no trouble in attempting to transmit what little he remembered of the old Air Nomad culture to all his children.

The biography concludes abruptly with the remark that "Avatar Aang, now in his early hundred-and-sixties, is still doing quite well, and makes an excellent next-igloo neighbour". _Life of Avatar Aang_ was in the early stages of publication when Chief Sokka died; Avatar Aang and his wife Katara died soon after, and none of them ever saw the book in print. Chief Sokka's third son, whose name is unfortunately lost to posterity, is known to have overseen the publication of this book.

It is unknown whether Avatar Aang approved of this book or not; his letters show a detached amusement at the project. His daughter Rungchen is said to have liked the book, but thought that it could have done with "a little less of Sokka", a sentiment with which some modern scholars agree.


	5. My Husband, the Avatar

Katara. My Husband, the Avatar.

One wonders whether this book is the product of an abnormally fertile imagination who idealized the Avatar's love lives—or perhaps wished to vicariously experience the Avatar's love and devotion—until it is realized that this book was written by Avatar Aang's wife herself. The book owes something of a debt to Pu-on Tim's wildly controversial final play, _Ta Min: Seductress_. Juxtaposing the love life of Avatar Roku and his wife Ta Min with her own experiences with Avatar Aang, she weaves the two parallel tales together so dexterously that by the end, it is impossible to distinguish one from the other. The ending leaves the impression that the novel had been telling the great love story of Female and Male, and nothing less.

The parts about Avatar Roku and Ta Min are largely fictional; unlike her brother, who strived to preserve some sort of historical accuracy in his writing, Katara saw no need to. Her knowledge of Ta Min, apart from what Avatar Aang may have told her of her true history, appears to be derived from the above-cited play by Pu-on Tim; she seems to have made no effort to inquire further. The parts about her own love life appear to be largely accurate to the extent that this can be verified, though she apparently made no qualms about changing certain events to suit her narrative requirements.

The book was left in manuscript form throughout Katara's lifetime; it was well-hidden, and was found and published by her grand-nephew about half a century after her death. Upon its release the book generated wide controversy, the likes of which were only matched by those following _Ta Min: Seductress_ and _A Defence of Child Pornography_. The book's descriptions were too vivid for the critics of the day; it was called "lewd", "pornographic", "indecent", and "unbecoming of the Avatar's own wife". Indeed it receives similar reception even now. There are many who claim that this manuscript was a forgery, intentionally attributed to Avatar Aang's wife to defame her memory; their claims in fact have some merit, and may well prove to be true. Despite this storm of controversy the novel has influenced many writers; the Sab-I Luoman school of writing is said to have been founded by avid readers of this book. Contrary to the proponents of that school, however, Katara appears never to have intended this book to be published.

The manuscript of this novel is in the possession of the Southern Water Tribe, which adamantly refuses to allow any access to it. This is extremely unusual, given that the Southern Water Tribe allows almost free access to its other manuscripts. As such, the published version's textual purity cannot be assessed, nor can handwriting analysis be carried out to verify or disprove its authorship.


	6. The Art of Airbending

Aang, Avatar. The Art of Airbending.

A manual of various Airbending techniques along with copious amounts of Air Nomad philosophy, written by Avatar Aang for the Airbenders that he expected to come after him. Since he was the last surviving Airbender of his time, he was the only one with any knowledge to pass down to future generations. He is recorded by various sources as having worked on this book for a substantial amount of time, finishing it shortly before his death. Several Airbending manuals and tomes have since been found, but of these Avatar Aang's is the most comprehensive.

He fully treats first the philosophy of the Air Nomads, including the doctrine of the Golden and Silver Rules. He then moves on to Air Nomad tradition and history; he admits to not having a full knowledge of these, but feels the need to record what he knows. After this follows a detailed guide to various Airbending techniques. These he arranges by difficulty, with careful notes on the proper time to commence learning each technique. Throughout the book he emphasizes the importance of innovation and the development of new techniques, and exhorts his readers to "follow their heart" above all things. The book illustrates the lucid style of Avatar Aang's later writing, in contrast to his earlier _Places to Go_.

The original manuscript is held by the small community of Airbenders currently living at the Southern Air Temple, where additional copies are occasionally printed on a small scale. The book is difficult to find, but a copy may be consulted at Shentong Library at the University of Ba Sing Se. It goes without saying that this is one of the most important books written about Airbending and the Air Nomads, and the world at large owes much to Avatar Aang for writing it.


	7. A Cabbage Merchant Remembers

Ga'ai-shi. A Cabbage Merchant Remembers.

This autobiography by Ga'ai-shi is interesting for a number of reasons: he lived through the end of the Hundred Years' War, witnessing from a commoner's point of view the changes occurring at that time; he lived in Ba Sing Se at the end of that war, always a city of interest for historians of that time; and his sudden changes in fortune have caused his name to become a household word. More importantly for our purposes, he details several encounters with Avatar Aang, who was his contemporary.

Among the descriptions of his travels and toils in the Earth Kingdom he records a number of encounters with Avatar Aang, a quick description of which would not be out of place here. He records that while he was trying to sell his cabbages in Omashu, a certain group of children—one of who turned out to be a young Avatar Aang—fell from the sky onto his cart and "utterly demolished it, leaving not so much as a single atom of it intact". They were taken before Bumi I—then King of Omashu—and paradoxically "sentenced" to a feast, to Ga'ai-shi's horror. His anger at this sentence is evidenced by the subsequent ten-page polemic on "crazy kings" and "cities of idiots". However strange and improbable the situation seems, however, it is verified by the official record of the time. In one of the many scrolls written by the court scribes of the period we find it recorded that a group of children, accused of the malicious destruction of cabbages, was sentenced to dine with the king. Ga'ai-shi's claim that this occurred a second time a day or two later, with King Bumi I himself falling onto the cart, seems to be unsubstantiated.

A second encounter with the Avatar occurred in an unnamed port. Ga'ai-shi cites this as the time he became "absolutely sure that this miscreant was none other than the Avatar himself". It appears that the Avatar and his friends were being pursued; Avatar Aang most ungraciously Airbended the cabbage cart into their pursuers to delay their advance, and this act was what informed the merchant of this child's identity. There appears to be no other evidence for this occurrence.

After these encounters he moved to Ba Sing Se, where he seemed to have no trouble from the Avatar except during the tumultuous creation of the then-new Ba Sing Se zoo, when a rabbiroo apparently released by Avatar Aang started eating his cabbages. Unsurprisingly, by this time Ga'ai-shi holds an extreme hatred for the Avatar, even calling for his death.

He continued to sell cabbages during the Fire Nation occupation of Ba Sing Se. His fortunes increased in the years following the end of the Hundred Years' War, causing him to move to Gaoling and opening what is generally accepted as the first supermarket there. The concept caught on, and his wealth was propelled to great heights. Unfortunately, a freak accident involving a great earthquake and the subsequent insanity of a Water Tribe man who happened to be in Gaoling at the time led to the destruction of both Ga'ai-shi's house and supermarket. The account breaks off here, though it is known that he resumed the trade of cabbage merchant later in his life.

_A Cabbage Merchant Remembers_ sold tolerably well upon its release; it was never very popular, and relatively few copies remain today. Nevertheless the book is well known for its angry, hostile tone, and its style has been parodied many times. Nowadays it may be found mostly in old bookshops and libraries.


	8. Lives of the Avatars

Society for Avataric Researches. "Avatar Aang." Lives of the Avatars. 

Few words need to be written about this work. The biography of Avatar Aang contained in _Lives of the Avatars_ is short but tolerably comprehensive, covering in some detail his exploits during the Hundred Years' War. The last section of the entry is, as customary for this work, an overview of the historical impact of the Avatar. While suitable for those requiring a quick overview of his life, those requiring more detail are advised to consult one of the many biographies written about him.


	9. Rebirth of the Air Nomads

Tenzin. Rebirth of the Air Nomads.

_Rebirth of the Air Nomads_ is a moving record of Tenzin's own life as well as the history of the Air Nomads after the Hundred Years' War. He is an important source for information on Avatar Aang, being his fifth child; indeed, the influence of his father is felt throughout the whole book. He meticulously records his father's bedtime stories about the Air Nomads of old and, as he grew older, his own attempts at Airbending. He also includes a few notes on his father's own views on being the Avatar, as well as his own experiences as the Avatar's son. Similarly to the children of the Avatar's other reincarnations, he appears to have tried to hide that aspect of his identity from his peers. He also records in some detail his father's methods of teaching; he notes that "it should be of interest to many readers to learn something of Aang the teacher, if only in general outline". The general philosophy and style of teaching outlined in that section of Tenzin's book serve, along with Avatar Aang's own _The Art of Airbending_, to guide the teaching style of the Air Nomads even today.

After writing about the childhood of his siblings and himself, he turns to the next turning point in their lives: the death of Avatar Aang. As is generally expected, the family was shaken by the event. While the children were still reeling from their father's death, their mother died as well. They took courage, however, and with time they had raised up another generation of Airbenders. The idea was proposed around this time to start restoring the Air Temples; they began with the Southern Air Temple, it being closest to the South Pole (and Avatar Aang's former home). The restoration efforts and the small-but-reviving Air Nomads' continuing study of Airbending are the subject of much of the book. It is at the Southern Air Temple that the next Avatar, Hini of the Northern Water Tribe, finds the descendants of her predecessor and begins studying Airbending. The book ends with the departure of a group of Air Nomads, including Tenzin's own two grandchildren, for the Western Air Temple. Tenzin regrets that his old age will prevent him from seeing that Air Temple restored, but has great hopes for the future.

Tenzin does not write in great detail about Avatar Aang's non-Airbending children. He does mention that the eldest of his siblings, a Waterbender, had already married before Avatar Aang's death and declined to accompany the rest of the siblings to the Southern Air Temple. Since there is still a small population of Waterbenders living at the Southern and Western Air Temples it is probable that Kutuk, Avatar Aang's other Waterbending child, remained with the Airbenders.

According to a note from Tenzin to his son Yangten, he had wished to submit _Rebirth of the Air Nomads_ to the major publishing houses for publication but could not do so because he was sure he would die before he could reach any of the major cities of the Earth Kingdom or the Fire Nation. Yangten probably never received the note, however, and the scrolls which formed the original manuscript languished in the library of the Southern Air Temple for some two hundred years. They were found later by a historian, Peng of the Fire Nation, who was conducting some research at the Southern Air Temple. Peng arranged for the manuscript to be published, but by that time Avatar Aang had begun to fall into obscurity. Interest in the book was low, and it never achieved a wide circulation. Nowadays it may occasionally be found in the larger bookstores as well as most libraries.


	10. Avatar: The Last Airbender

Riko, and Dimar. Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Also published under the title _Avatar: The Legend of Aang._ This work claims the distinction of being the first published biography about Avatar Aang, being published shortly after the end of the Hundred Years' War. It is the only contemporary biography of Avatar Aang written by authors who did not know him personally, though Riko and Dimar did obtain several interviews with the Avatar during the course of their research. They relied on a wide variety of sources for their biography, including interviews with (among others) Chief Sokka and Firelord Zuko. Their work treats a very narrow timeframe, covering only the time period between Avatar Aang's release from the iceberg to his defeat of Firelord Ozai. As such it neglects the Avatar's later travels, his extensive work in promoting restoration efforts, and his married life. Within that narrow timeframe, however, their book is incredibly detailed. The authors present this material in the form of an engaging narrative; its presentation and the level of detail have led some to believe that it is a fictionalized biography of Avatar Aang's life, although this is not the case. The scholarship behind the book is exemplary, and this work is often cited in the academic literature. Its combination of engaging writing and historical veracity has led to the book's immense popularity in the past, and there appears to be a resurgence of popularity in the present day. The first part of the book, "Water", has been adapted as an opera by the composer Yu Beifong; at the time of writing, the composition of the second opera in the cycle is in progress. While _Avatar: The Last Airbender_ has never been explicitly endorsed by Avatar Aang or his friends and companions, Chief Sokka's cousin Inuk has stated that both Sokka and Avatar Aang read the book eagerly as soon as it was released and "made no complaints". Based on this statement, its scholarly integrity and its general agreement with Chief Sokka's own work, _Life of Avatar Aang_, _Avatar: The Last Airbender_ is generally looked upon as being almost authoritative.


	11. The Cave of Two Lovers, etc

Laoding. "The Cave of Two Lovers, Wan Shi Tong's Library and Energybending: A Critical Analysis of the Available Evidence." Avataric Review Letters. Vol. 56, No. 9.

In this article, Laoding seeks to catalogue and analyze the evidence relating to three controversial claims about Avatar Aang: that he had been in the Cave of Two Lovers, that he had been in the mythical library of Wan Shi Tong, and that he had used Energybending to remove the ability to Firebend from Firelord Ozai. These claims originated with the earliest biographies of Avatar Aang, including Riko and Dima's _Avatar: The Last Airbender_ and Chief Sokka's _Life of Avatar Aang._ While widely believed in the years after Avatar Aang's death, they have recently fallen into dispute.

The Cave of Two Lovers, which has been recently found, was thought to be a myth related to the legend of the origins of Earthbending and the city of Omashu. The dispute about Avatar Aang having entered the cave stems from the fact that many scholars of the time thought the cave to be lost. Laoding concludes that the evidence is ambivalent; the detailed descriptions of the cave found in early accounts of Avatar Aang's life could have been fabricated, but there would be no reason to do so. This is the only claim whose veracity is no longer in doubt; the discovery of the actual Cave of Two Lovers and its agreement with the description furnished in Avatar Aang's _Places to Go_ show that he most likely had been in the cave.

Wan Shi Tong's library is widely held to be either completely mythical or partly so; it has been theorized that the legend of the library is based on a historical library, but has been embellished over time. Laoding considers it implausible that Avatar Aang or his friends entered the library. It has been held that their accurate prediction of the solar eclipse of 1/8 Riwu-Monkey is evidence of their having entered the library, but their arrival in Ba Sing Se around that point in their journey suggests otherwise. They would likely have been able to access detailed astronomical predictions there, and various tables of the time predict a solar eclipse for 1/8 Riwu-Monkey. In addition, the fact that Wan Shi Tong's library was considered lost even at that time casts further doubt on the affair.

Evidence considering Energybending is scarce, and Laoding freely acknowledges it. Almost nothing is known of Firelord Ozai after his defeat; the official biography released by the Royal Fire Nation Historians' Academy has only one line of text concerning Ozai after the Hundred Years' War: "Former Firelord Ozai died in the third month of the year Yuanzheng-Serpent, and was barred from the traditional funeral rites." It is impossible, therefore, to assess whether he could still Firebend after the war. There is, however, the testimony of Chief Sokka and Toph Beifong concerning the immediate aftermath of his defeat, but Laoding dismisses these because of the obvious bias involved. Based on the fact that no instance of Energybending had been known to occur since the Tenth Avatar, Laoding decides that the story of Avatar Aang taking away Firelord Ozai's bending is "probably an embellishment of the true facts".

Laoding's work is rather more like a summary than a full analysis of the evidence; it is useful as such, though it is now outdated and somewhat controversial. Despite its perceived shortcomings, the article remains the only academic paper to compile and analyze the data surrounding these claims.


	12. To the Pirate

_____. To The Pirate.

The author of this little-known pamphlet identifies himself only as "A Former Pirate". It is only interesting in that it appears to corroborate a single event related in most biographies of Avatar Aang, which would be otherwise difficult to verify. It is also the probable source for part of an early play about Avatar Aang, _The Boy in the Iceberg_, written by Pu-on Tim. _To The Pirate_ is a tract extolling the virtues of honest work in contrast to piracy, arguing that pirates should give up piracy because of the ignominious nature of the work involved and because it yields less wealth for more effort. The section of interest is found on the third and fourth pages of the original pamphlet, and recounts the acquisition and subsequent theft of a certain Waterbending scroll. "A Former Pirate" recalls that his fellow pirates stole the scroll from a traveller, and that an (unnamed) Earth Kingdom noble offered to buy the scroll for two hundred gold pieces. Soon after, however, it was stolen by a group of children, one of which was a "little bald monk with an arrow on his head". They were successfully repulsed when they chased the group down, but later ran into a Fire Nation prince (most likely then-Prince Zuko) who was interested in capturing the monk. They agreed to cooperate, and soon captured the children. The monk turned out to be the Avatar; using this to his advantage, the Water Tribe boy accompanying him (almost certainly Chief Sokka) managed to convince the pirates to turn against the Fire Nation prince and hand in the Avatar to Firelord Ozai himself to receive a reward. The affair ended with the escape of the Avatar, the loss of the scroll and the loss of their boat. The author opines that, had the pirates acquired that scroll honestly, the spirits would not have brought such calamity on them.

The origins of this pamphlet are completely unknown; the covering page is missing, and with it the name of the publisher. It is unknown if the author is even what he claims he is, _viz._ a former pirate. A copy was found in the Gaoling Reference Library during its massive reorganization twenty years ago; it was not recorded in the library's catalogue, though it bore a library tag. It would have remained forever obscure but for its inclusion of the above-mentioned episode concerning Avatar Aang. No other known copies of the work survive.


	13. The Hundred Years' War

Pei. The Hundred Years' War.

Dr. Pei's _The Hundred Years' War_ is a general overview of the eponymous war. It begins with a section containing brief biographies of Firelords Sozin, Azulon, Ozai and Zuko, along with Avatars Roku and Aang. After this is a description of events during the war in chronological order. It begins with the great military build-up during Firelord Sozin's reign and subsequent conquests (taking advantage, of course, of the comet that still carries his name), his brief battle with Avatar Roku over the morality of the war of conquest, and the genocide of the Air Nomads. Dr. Pei continues with Firelord Azulon's conquest of the Hu Xin Provinces, the Battle of Garsai, and the Siege of Ba Sing Se. After these and others, he devotes a chapter to the anomalous rise of Firelord Ozai. Nothing is known about this save that Firelord Azulon's final wish was for his second son, Ozai, to succeed him. Dr. Pei writes that the common explanation is that Firelord Azulon's firstborn son, Prince Iroh, had shamed himself during the Siege of Ba Sing Se. He also notes that with the death of Prince Iroh's son, Prince Lu Ten, his bloodline was cut off. Dr. Pei then continues, soon arriving at then-Prince Zuko's banishment and the subsequent discovery of Avatar Aang. Among other events, he treats the Siege of the North, the conquest of Omashu, the Great Drill of Ba Sing Se, and the successful coup in that city by Princess Azula. Soon after this was the historic Day of Black Sun invasion on 1/8 Riwu-Monkey, which was the only instance during the war that the Capital City of the Fire Nation was successfully penetrated. This day was notable for the sudden flourish of new technology: submarines, invented by a young Chief Sokka, were used to circumvent the Great Gates of Azulon; and airships, based on the concept of using hot air to generate buoyancy, were employed for the first time by the Fire Nation. The war concluded soon after that. With the return of Sozin's comet, White Lotus forces recaptured Ba Sing Se while the Fire Nation's airship fleet—deployed to burn the whole Earth Kingdom to the ground—was destroyed. Firelord Ozai himself is defeated by Avatar Aang; Dr. Pei is skeptical about Energybending, but admits it as a possibility. He ends the book with an appraisal of the damage caused by the hundred-year-long war, and its relevance to modern society.

_The Hundred Years' War_ is popularly used as a textbook in university courses about the Hundred Years' War. Dr. Pei himself is a recognized authority on this time period, and his book is considered trustworthy.


	14. The Rise of Firelord Zuko

Royal Fire Nation Historians' Academy. The Rise of Firelord Zuko.

_The Rise of Firelord Zuko_ is the official biography of Firelord Zuko, written by the RFNHA after his death as per Fire Nation custom. It is a detailed account of his life and acts, as well as the history of the Fire Nation under his rule. Unlike most of the official biographies, this one recounts his acts before his coronation in detail. Ordinarily, these would be recorded in the biography of the previous Firelord; most of the official biographies begin with the coronation. It is unknown why the RFNHA chose to break with tradition in this instance. In any case, the biography is largely conventional in other respects; it places more emphasis on the Firelord in the greater scheme of things, eschewing the more personal side of his life. Despite this, his love and devotion for Fire Lady Mai and their children was self-evident; he even declared a national day of mourning for the death of his second daughter Irah.

Notable aspects of his reign were the Declaration of Peace, the Declaration of Shame, his devotion to the promotion of harmony between the nations, and his role in the development of an international scientific dialogue through the Four-Nation Academic Consortium. Firelord Zuko is also noted for the close relationships he held with Chief Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe and with Avatar Aang, though relations with the former soured temporarily with the Infinitesimals Priority dispute. The Fire Nation underwent a massive—though by no means complete—demilitarization during the early years of his reign, precipitating the Fire Temple Defenestrations in the year Yiwen-Boar. Firelord Zuko announced his plans to downsize the military during a ritual visit of his court to the Fire Temple, in the process effectively marginalizing a large part of his government. The War Minister and some of the generals took this opportunity to protest against the new Firelord's policies; the dispute degenerated into a brawl, ending with the defenestration of the Culture Minister and two unnamed generals. This precipitated a national outcry fuelled by the perception that the Fire Nation, once the greatest nation on the earth, was now bowing to the "demands" of the other nations by sending them food and supplies. The masses were largely appeased when Firelord Zuko stopped sending aid to the other nations, though some slight unrest persisted. Trade between the Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes flourished under Firelord Zuko's later reign, leading to a change in perception in the people of the Fire Nation about their ruler. Firelord Zuko died at the age of 105, and was succeeded by his son Ruzon according to established custom.

As is usual, _The Rise of Firelord Zuko_ reflects the political climate of the time it was written. The RFNHA was quite critical of Firelord Ozai, and never failed to praise Firelord Zuko's decisions to reverse his father's policies. It also takes an uncompromising stance on the priority of Firelord Zuko in the Infinitesimals Priority dispute, asserting in no uncertain terms that Chief Sokka was a plagiarist, and stopping just short of character assassination. In most other subjects there seem to be no notable scholarly aberrations. Though _The Rise of Firelord Zuko_ is undoubtedly a most useful resource, one should be careful in handling it.


	15. Son of the Avatar: A Diary

Jinzu. Son of the Avatar: A Diary.

_Son of the Avatar: A Diary_ was the personal diary of Jinzu, Avatar Aang's fourth child. He did not write with a view to publication, only doing so at the behest of his cousin Nyama. Because of this, Jinzu removed details present in the original diary before submitting his manuscript for publication. In his final will and testament, he specified that the original was not to be read by anyone except those descended from Avatar Aang, and that differences between the original and published versions were not to be made public. For this reason, the extent to which details may have been modified or removed is unknown. Apart from this, there was one other change between the original and published versions: the title. Jinzu was unhappy with the change, but his original title was extremely long and misleading. (In this case the original text is known. See appendix.)

The diary contains, as may be expected, much information about Avatar Aang that would be difficult, if not absolutely impossible, to obtain in other manners. Only a member of the family could know that, for example, Katara once forced Avatar Aang to learn how to sew on pain of being shut out of the igloo for the night. Jinzu also paints for us an amusing portrait of Avatar Aang and his wife's parenting styles: Avatar Aang appeared to take little interest in disciplining the children, often joining in their games, while Katara would often intimidate the children into behaving. Often, Avatar Aang would be grounded along with his own children; Jinzu quotes his mother as saying that "being the Avatar is not an exemption from being a good boy". On other occasions, however, Avatar Aang took his responsibilities quite seriously. He carefully taught Airbending to the Airbending children (Katara, a very respected Waterbending teacher, undertook the training of the Waterbending children), initiated and upheld a tradition of telling stories about the old Airbenders every night, and required that all his children set aside at least half an hour a day to meditate. (Jinzu remembers this as being quite tedious.)

This diary is also the origin of the recipe popularly known as "The Avatar's Favourite Seaweed Cookies". It was a treat given by Katara to Avatar Aang and the children as a reward for good behaviour; the whole family was fond of the snack, and Chief Sokka would often invite himself and his family over when it was made. Jinzu's brother Inuttut was the one who found the recipe after Katara's death. It was written in a hand no one could recognize and carefully hidden in the hollowed dowel of a Waterbending scroll. Jinzu copied it into his diary; this was fortunate for the family, for the original recipe disappeared the day after it was found.

Jinzu is quite inconsistent about writing in his diary; sometimes he would write in it every day, while at other times he would not write anything for months on end. It covers a large period of time, from his late childhood to well past Avatar Aang's death. The last entry was written at the Southern Air Temple. He does not explicitly say that he is finished with the diary, but indicates that he is too busy to write in it regularly. It was published on the suggestion of Chief Sokka's second child, Nyama, who was a historian of some repute. No doubt Nyama had perceived the potential value of such a diary; it is much to his credit that this diary was disseminated to the world. Any historian will attest to its significance.


	16. Conversations with my Past Lives

Hong, Avatar. Conversations with my Past Lives.

It is a well-documented and well-attested fact that Avatars, on certain occasions, are able to speak with their past lives. It should come as no surprise, then, that Avatar Hong took advantage of being one himself to question his past lives about historical events. He was an avid historian—in fact, he was the head of the history department at the Royal University of the Fire Nation for twenty-eight years, an active member of the Society for Avataric Researches, and a former chair of the Royal Fire Nation Historian's Academy. When he read in a book that earlier Avatars meditated to talk with their past lives, he wasted no time in doing the same. This book, according to him, grew out of the notes that he took after these sessions.

He found that Avatar Aang, unlike some Avatars, was willing to say a few things about his own life. (Avatar Gu, for example, thought that Avatar Hong should have led a more active life and refused to answer any "frivolous questions".) This excited him, no doubt; it is no secret that of all the Avatars, he admired Avatar Aang the most. Since his conversations with Avatar Aang form a good part of the book, we make a note of it here.

Avatar Hong discovered, in the course of these conversations, that Avatar Aang thought the notion of the Cave of Two Lovers being a myth to be ridiculous, that Wan Shi Tong's mythical library was once in the physical world but is there no longer, that he was giddy with excitement because the Air Nomads were slowly reviving, and that he thought Avatar Hong should try penguin sledding. However, he refused to speak about Energybending when asked about it, instead telling Avatar Hong to "think about it". At one point, Avatar Aang mentions that Avatar Hong reminded him of a certain professor whom he met, who was just as inquisitive as Avatar Hong and who later accompanied him to Wan Shi Tong's library. We have the name of that professor; it is Dr. Zei, former head of the anthropology department at Ba Sing Se University. It is said that he disappeared during a trip to the Si Wong Desert. According to Avatar Aang, he refused to leave the library when it was being taken back to the Spirit World.

Other things of note include his advice to the Air Nomads of the time, the method of constructing a glider in the traditional manner (which had been lost), and details of his encounter with the first Aunt Wu, the famous oracle of Mt. Makapu.

Unfortunately, these interviews with the deceased Avatar Aang have done nothing to clear up the most controversial details of his life. He refused to make a statement on Energybending, could not offer any proof of his assertion that Wan Shi Tong's library had disappeared from the world, and did not offer any information that could have proved that he had seen the Cave of Two Lovers. He did leave a detailed description of the Cave of Two Lovers in his _Places to Go_; he also mentioned the legend of the library in that work as well, but it was only in connection to the Si Wong Desert. He never wrote that he had been in the library, nor is there to be found in his writings any mention of Energybending; these are claims found only in other works. It is to be noted that the only controversial point to have been cleared up is the only one he wrote about, _viz._ the Cave of Two Lovers. At any rate, his words from beyond the grave did not augment scholarly knowledge in any meaningful way concerning these things, though much interesting material can be found concerning other topics in Avatar Hong's recorded interviews with his predecessor.


	17. Four Variations

Aang, Avatar. Four Variations on "It's a Long, Long Way to Ba Sing Se".

This piece, written for the guzheng, is one of three extant musical pieces written by Avatar Aang and the only one to have been published in his lifetime. _It's a Long, Long Way to Ba Sing Se_ was a popular tune of his time, but is almost unknown nowadays. Avatar Aang's variations are innovative in some respects, but did not have much influence on the common practice of the period. He was not known to be an exceptional musician, but all evidence points to him being a skilled amateur. He had some experience with the tsungi horn and the xiao in his youth, but turned to the guzheng when he was introduced to it during a trip through the Earth Kingdom. He reportedly composed only for pleasure during his spare time, but Firelord Zuko—an extremely proficient tsungi hornist—recommended that the _Variations_ be published after the Avatar played it for him.

The piece's structure is different from most pieces written in variation form in that the theme is played _after_ the variations, leading directly to the final chords of the piece. Each variation is meant to evoke a different element, as indicated in the score. The first variation, marked "Water", consists simply of the melody played over an accompaniment of arpeggiated chords. The second variation, "Earth", is more interesting: it appears to be based on the Omashu hop-dance, but instead of the conventional duple meter he writes it in 5/8 time. Avatar Aang specifically marks in this variation that all the notes in each chord are to be plucked simultaneously, contrary to convention. The third variation, "Fire", is highly virtuosic—a fireworks display of rapid notes and tremolos. His son Kutuk once said that his father often skipped this variation when he played this piece. The fourth variation, "Air", contrasts strongly with the third; the texture is sparse and empty, consisting largely of chords in parallel motion. It is entirely played in harmonics, lending an airy tone to the variation. After these comes the statement of the theme itself: the melody of _It's a Long, Long Way to Ba Sing Se_ accompanied only by the occasional chord. This leads directly to the coda, a notoriously difficult series of ascending chords based on descending degrees of the whole tone scale. This coda is arguably the most famous part of the work. It is harmonically extremely interesting, and shows the influence of the Southern Water Tribe where he made his home.

This set of variations shows much musical ingenuity, but also betrays the composer's lack of experience. As noted, Avatar Aang composed only for fun, and by all accounts did not take his music-making very seriously. Some past Avatars did make significant contributions to music—the most famous, of course, was Avatar Janggi—but Avatar Aang was not one of them. Despite the piece's perceived shortcomings among musicologists it has achieved a modest amount of popularity, and is occasionally performed even in the present day.


	18. Firelord Ozai: Rise, Reign, Downfall

Royal Fire Nation Historians' Academy. Firelord Ozai: Rise, Reign, Downfall.

_Firelord Ozai: Rise, Reign, Downfall_ is the official biography of Firelord Ozai, written by the RFNHA after his death as per Fire Nation custom. It begins, as usual, with his coronation; however, instead of describing the ceremony in detail the RFNHA devotes the section to showing how Ozai illegitimately acquired the throne. Firelord Azulon had died mysteriously, and had passed the throne to his second son Ozai instead of his first son Iroh, so the whole affair was suspicious. The RFNHA accuses Ozai of forcing his father to revoke Iroh's birthright, then killing him. The accusatory, almost venomous rhetoric which characterizes the opening section of the biography continues throughout the book.

The section on the banishment of then-Prince Zuko is especially harsh. The RFNHA denounces the burning of Zuko's face as an act of unbridled cruelty, writing that "Firelord Ozai showed plainly on that day that he was less than human—less than the lowliest animal—because he coldly disregarded his son's act of filial piety and disfigured the flesh of his own child". The attempted invasion of the North Pole is similarly criticized; the attempt at killing the Moon Spirit is described as particularly rash. As in other accounts of the incident, this book credits the Firelord's brother, Iroh, with trying to save the spirit. The book even goes on to praise the bravery of the Northern Water Tribe, and blames the defeat on the sins of the Firelord. The invasion of Omashu is also described in unfavourable terms; the RFNHA takes the opportunity to level an accusation of vanity against Firelord Ozai for commissioning a giant statue of himself to be placed at the peak of the city. (In fact, it is more likely that his daughter, Princess Azula, commissioned the statue.)

Firelord Ozai's handling of the Day of Black Sun invasion is another opportunity for the RFNHA to rail against him. He is described as an incompetent, impulsive and rash commander; the RFNHA attributes the repulsion of the invading forces to luck. Later, during one of the final war councils of the war, Firelord Ozai plans to use the power of Sozin's comet to incinerate the Earth Kingdom. This plan fails, however, and Ozai is defeated. The RFNHA insists that Ozai's bending was removed from him, and praises Avatar Aang for his restraint in not killing "the greatest sinner ever born".

The biography ends with the famous matter-of-fact line, "Former Firelord Ozai died in the third month of the year Yuanzheng-Serpent, and was barred from the traditional funeral rites". The biographies of other Firelords usually end with an elaborate description of their funeral and an overview of the most important of their acts.

It goes without saying that _Firelord Ozai: Rise, Reign, Downfall_ is heavily biased against its subject. This is no doubt due to the fact that it was written during Firelord Zuko's reign; he was abused by his father, and wished to distance himself from his father's bloody rule. Had the RFNHA written a biography that did not denounce Ozai in the strongest terms, they would have incurred the wrath of Firelord Zuko. Because of this deep bias, it is difficult to extract factual information from this official biography.


	19. The Boy in the Iceberg

Tim, Pu-on. The Boy in the Iceberg.

_The Boy in the Iceberg_ marks the first appearance of Avatar Aang in the arts, and is at the head of a long line of plays, operas, novels and more. It is all the more interesting in that Pu-on Tim was a contemporary of Avatar Aang's, and therefore this play is thought by some to be of historical value in this regard. Mainstream historians, however, consider this play as merely a work of art, and attaches no real historical value to it apart from its obvious reflection of the political climate surrounding its writing. _The Boy in the Iceberg_ was Pu-on Tim's first play based on true events; he would not return to historical drama until his final play, _Ta Min: Seductress_.

It is a recounting of the life of Avatar Aang from his release from the iceberg to his final fight with Firelord Ozai, and—strangely enough—is structured rather similarly to Riko and Dimar's _Avatar: The Last Airbender_. It deviates noticeably in some respects from the accepted histories of Avatar Aang, especially in its crude depictions of Sokka and Aang. The most notable deviation, of course, is the final victory of Firelord Ozai depicted in the play; this is, no doubt, to appease the censors of the Fire Nation. Though Pu-on Tim was from the Earth Kingdom, he was living in the Fire Nation at the time.

The play premiered in the Ember Island Theatre. It was not well-received by critics, being described by one as merely "watchable". However, it was quite popular with the theatre-going public. It would seem, however, that the modern revival of Pu-on Tim's plays have extended only to the plays from his Absurdist period, and not to earlier plays such as _The Boy in the Iceberg_.

At the time of _The Boy in the Iceberg's_ initial theatre run, much was made of Pu-on Tim's "research" on Avatar Aang and his "unbiased depiction" of the same. When it came to light that he had in fact spoken to very few people about the Avatar and that many of the details in his work were made up, future promotional materials refrained from repeating these claims.

It is well known that Avatar Aang, Chief Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe and Firelord Zuko all disapproved of the play. They had, on Chief Sokka's suggestion, attended the play during its initial run at Ember Island, and strongly disliked the portrayal of themselves in it. A story, probably apocryphal, claims that Chief Sokka actually snuck backstage to meet the actor who was playing him and coached him on how to be more like the real Sokka. The play's insinuations of a relationship between Firelord Zuko and Avatar Aang's wife, Katara, were vehemently denounced by all parties involved. Overall, _The Boy in the Iceberg_ met with criticism and disapproval from the real-life counterparts of all the characters portrayed therein, as well as from critics and historians.


	20. The Avatar Returns

Liang, Zhu. The Avatar Returns. Libretto by Tian Wen Jing.

_The Avatar Returns_ was the first opera written about Avatar Aang, and was a direct response to Pu-on Tim's _The Boy in the Iceberg_. It was premiered in the Ember Island Opera House exactly a year after the end of the Hundred Years' War and was praised by many critics, though it was not as popular with the public as _The Boy in the Iceberg_.

The now-famous "Foreword by the Librettist" was, on the insistence of Tian Wen Jing, placed into the program notes at all performances, and is undoubtedly the most famous part of the opera. In it, he outlines clearly that _The Avatar Returns_ was a response to _The Boy in the Iceberg_, which he calls "absolutely riddled with errors". He hopes that, with _The Avatar Returns_, he can "correct to some degree the injury and injustice inflicted upon all Patrons of Art". He then goes on to cite various shortcomings in the play, including the unreliability of Pu-on Tim's sources, its rampant factual inaccuracies and its crudeness. (He explicitly compares the play to Pu-on Tim's second play, _The Death of Bol-Pheer_, which he holds to be higher in quality.) Tian Wen Jing concludes with the claim that he had interviewed Avatar Aang and his friends personally; it is now known that this is not true, though he does use sources that make use of such interviews.

Interestingly enough, the Foreword repeats the story that Chief Sokka snuck backstage during a performance of _The Boy in the Iceberg_ to coach the Sokka actor. Indeed, some scholars believe that this Foreword is the origin of that story.

The plot of the opera itself is well-known, and covers the time period from the discovery of Avatar Aang in the iceberg to the coronation of Firelord Zuko. The storyline is condensed somewhat due to the limitations of the medium, but the major events are portrayed. _The Avatar Returns_ is one of the first operas to use leitmotifs, and was a great influence on later composers. As such, this opera has traditionally been required study for students of music; in addition, it is the subject of innumerable books and papers. While Liang Zhu was fairly well-known as a composer before he composed this opera, its success with the critics cemented his reputation internationally.

Yu Beifong, composer of the opera cycle _Avatar: The Legend of Aang,_ has openly acknowledged his debt to Liang Zhu's opera. This is most evident in the borrowing of leitmotifs from the earlier opera, especially the distinctive four-note "Avatar leitmotif". Thanks to the popularity of _Water_, the first opera in the cycle and the only one to have been completed at present, public interest in the much earlier _The Avatar Returns_ has increased. It has even seen a recent revival in the Yinzhen Opera Theatre, where it was performed to wide acclaim.


	21. Remembering Toph Beifong

Wang, Shu. Remembering Toph Beifong.

_Remembering Toph Beifong_ is the memoirs of Wang Shu, one of Earthbending master Toph Beifong's four students. It is one of the few substantial sources modern scholars have concerning Toph and her life apart from biographies of Avatar Aang, who was her first Earthbending student and with whom she travelled for much of her life. The genesis of these memoirs is a story unto itself: according to the foreword, penned by Chief Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe, Wang Shu's wife was convinced that he had had an affair with Toph while she was alive, and demanded that he publicly denounce her as his master if it were not true. Being loyal to his late Earthbending teacher, he refused to do so and instead published _Remembering Toph Beifong_. The effect this action had on Wang Shu's marriage is unknown.

Apart from Wang Shu's experiences during his Earthbending training, he also recorded some of the conversations he would often have with his master. One of these conversations gives an explanation for why the Beifong school of Earthbending differs so radically from the other schools: Toph learned Earthbending directly from the badgermoles and developed it independently, being forced to do so because of her blindness. This explanation is generally held to be the most plausible reason for these discrepancies. Other conversations concerned her Earthbending philosophy and her many travels with Avatar Aang.

Wang Shu's descriptions of his training with Toph portray her as a harsh and demanding teacher, exacting to the point of being almost unreasonable. She demanded the best of her students, but always had their progress in mind. She placed much emphasis on developing the sense of touch, especially with the feet; from almost the beginning, Wang Shu was blindfolded whenever he trained with her. Her methods were quite unorthodox for her day—they are only beginning to gain acceptance outside the Beifong tradition even now—but by all accounts, they were quite effective. Toph taught her students one-to-one exclusively. Her lessons typically lasted all day, and were conducted with such vigour that both master and pupil would be utterly exhausted by the end of the session. However, her teaching schedule was erratic at best. Often she would be travelling with the Avatar and his friends; typically she would leave without any prior notice.

Probably the most interesting part of the memoirs concerns Toph's final hours. She died early, at about the age of fifty, due to an unknown disease. Wang Shu writes that Toph's close friend Katara, a skilled Waterbender healer, had even attempted to cure her with water from the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole without success. In the end Toph resigned herself to her fate, but not before she gathered her four Earthbending students and attempted to teach them what she could. It is from this final lesson that advanced students of the Beifong school derive the technique of Metalbending, which she had developed herself but never before taught to anyone. She then gave individual farewells to those present, which comprised Avatar Aang, Chief Sokka, Firelord Zuko and their wives, as well as her students. She died clinging to Chief Sokka's hands.

Because Toph Beifong only had four students (the first of which was Avatar Aang) and rarely associated with anyone but her immediate relatives, her students and her few friends, little has been written about her life and teachings. Her other students wrote Earthbending manuals based on her teachings, while biographies of Avatar Aang could hardly fail to mention her; however, _Remembering Toph Beifong_ is the only writing that focuses on her life. Though from a very personal point of view, Wang Shu's work is invaluable because of the paucity of other sources regarding her and her life.


	22. Almost Firelord: Princess Azula’s Life

Zhenci. Almost Firelord: Princess Azula's Life.

It is not surprising that _Almost Firelord: Princess Azula's Life_ is the only biography to have been published about Azula, the little-known sister of Firelord Zuko. Apart from the coup of Ba Sing Se in the final year of the Hundred Years' War, she is not known for much. She is barely mentioned in the royal biographies of the Fire Nation.

This work established Zhenci as a skilled researcher; previously, any coherent account of Azula's life was thought to be quite impossible because of the paucity of sources about her. From these sources, some of which are quite biased, he pieces together an image of a tyrannical, ambitious princess who demanded absolute perfection from herself and everyone around her.

Even Zhenci's through researches could throw little light on Azula's childhood, apart from scattered comments attributed to Firelord Zuko. As she entered her teenage years she became quite active in the service of the Fire Nation, at one point nearly killing Avatar Aang. She is best known for her bloodless conquest of Ba Sing Se: she disguised herself and her companions (the future Fire Lady Mai being one of them) as Kyoshi Warriors, used this guise to enter the palace, allied herself with the Dai Li, and used them to take out the highest officials of the city all at once. As the return of Sozin's comet approached, Firelord Ozai took the title of Phoenix King for himself and created Azula the new Firelord. However, her coronation was interrupted by the arrival of her brother Zuko, who challenged her to an Agni Kai for the throne. He won, and Azula started to slip into insanity. Avatar Aang defeated Firelord Ozai at about that time, and both Ozai and Azula were imprisoned for life. Azula's insanity only increased during prison, and during one particularly violent outburst she caused her prison to collapse around her, killing her. She was barely sixteen.

[Erratum: Based on very recent findings, it is now thought that Azula was not imprisoned. Indeed, no records of her imprisonment are known to exist; it was assumed that her records were among the many that were lost in that turbulent era. However, a recently discovered document from the Wei Sang Institute for Mental Health indicates that Azula was one of its patients. No records of the Institute's destruction survive, but funds from the royal treasury were known to have been allotted for the construction of a new building for the Institute. The timing of this coincides with Azula's death, lending credence to the theory that she was in fact committed to a mental institution, not imprisoned. The Society for Avataric Researches would like to thank AlgaeNymph for bringing this matter to our attention.]


	23. Avatar’s Wife, Firelord’s Concubine

A Lover of Truth. Avatar's Wife, Firelord's Concubine.

This booklet is a vicious attack against Firelord Zuko and Avatar Aang's wife, Katara. It alleges that the two carried on an affair behind the backs of both Avatar Aang and Fire Lady Mai, and that between them they gave birth to a child which has hitherto been passed off as one of the Avatar's sons. According to this booklet, Katara and Firelord Zuko's affair began during Avatar Aang's period of depression (due to the Air Nomad genocide). It then goes on to describe in detail the progression of the relationship and the increasing difficulty they had in hiding it. They took the greatest pains to stay away from Toph Beifong, who would have been able to detect their affair. Avatar Aang supposedly suspected nothing, while Fire Lady Mai was aware that something may have been going on with her husband. The affair culminated with Katara's pregnancy, and in the end she gave birth to another son. Katara and Firelord Zuko agreed to pretend that the child was the Avatar's. This child was named Inuttut, and according to the booklet he had unusually pale skin inherited from his true father. The booklet ends with the declaration that the truth had finally been revealed to the world.

The claims are largely baseless. _Avatar's Wife, Firelord's Concubine_ is almost completely fiction. There is no evidence that either Firelord Zuko or Katara ever evaded Toph Beifong, nor is there any evidence of Inuttut having skin any paler than his brothers or sisters. The manner in which Katara and Firelord Zuko discover their feelings for each other is obviously contrived. While Avatar Aang did flee to the Southern Air Temple at one point during his depression, Katara did not follow him there, according to her brother's _Life of Avatar Aang_. Even if she did, it seems impossible that Firelord Zuko would have stopped at the Air Temple on the very day that this occurred. In addition, there could have been no witness to some of the sexual scenes described in the booklet.

Despite all this, when the booklet was first published fifty years after Firelord Zuko's death it created a furor. Firelord Ruzon condemned the booklet, issued a decree for its author's arrest, and banned its circulation. Both Water Tribes issued statements strongly condemning the booklet, as did Avatar Hini. These statements and decrees have survived, but for a long time it was thought that the booklet itself did not. However, a copy was found in the archives of the city of Shu Jing about a hundred years ago. It was reprinted in a critical edition for the use of historians, but it has since become popular among the general public. In fact, it has even made a mark on the artistic world. The concept of Firelord Zuko and Katara having an affair has spawned a wave of fictional works which some have aptly named "Zutara". As for the author, "A Lover of Truth", no identification has been made. Some have theorized that the booklet is the work of the Fire Supremacists.


	24. The Virtues of Vegetarianism

Aang, Avatar. "The Virtues of Vegetarianism." The Epoch Times 14/9 Peizhi-Tiger.

_The Virtues of Vegetarianism_ is a short article, penned by Avatar Aang apparently on a whim, first published in The Epoch Times newspaper in Omashu. In it he advocates for the adoption of a vegetarian diet. He argues that vegetarianism is more respectful of life and the environment and that it is healthier than a diet of meat. The weight of the article is not intellectual—the same arguments Avatar Aang uses had been used for hundreds of years—but emotional. It is surprising to find that the Avatar was only nineteen years old when he wrote it, for the article is uncharacteristically eloquent and moving. While it did not exactly spark a vegetarian revolution, certain letters sent to The Epoch Times claim that their writers decided to switch to vegetarianism because of the Avatar's article. In the present day, _The Virtues of Vegetarianism_ seems to be better known than when it was first published. Such organizations as the Animal Treatment Ethics Partnership unabashedly exploit the fact that Avatar Aang promoted vegetarianism. Their literature often quotes from this article; sometimes it is reprinted outright.


	25. In Defence of Meat

Sokka. "In Defence of Meat." The Epoch Times 21/9 Peizhi-Tiger.

A few words on the origin of this article may be found in Chief Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe's _Life of Avatar Aang_, to the effect that _In Defence of Meat_ was written in direct response to Avatar Aang's _The Virtues of Vegetarianism_. Sokka, representing his father Chief Hakoda, had been in Omashu to negotiate a trade agreement along with his sister and Avatar Aang. On a whim, the Avatar wrote an article discouraging the consumption of meat in favour of a vegetarian diet and had it published while there. Sokka was more than a little annoyed by this (as evidenced by his tirade in _Life of Avatar Aang_), and promptly submitted a lengthy rebuttal to The Epoch Times.

Much of the article consists of praise for meat, often to the detriment of vegetables. He includes entire paragraphs on the superiority of the texture and flavour of meat over those of vegetables, which he dismisses as bland and unpalatable. Amidst these unjustified claims and hyperbole, however, it does point out interesting issues in Avatar Aang's article. Some of these have proven to be contentious points of debate in the present day. For example, it is thought that Sokka was the originator of the idea that, were one to take the concept of "doing no harm" to its logical extreme, it follows that humans are obligated to _not_ eat because doing so could destroy both any organisms in the food, as well as do harm to any organisms that could have eaten that food had humans not eaten it first.

_In Defence of Meat_ was published in the 21/9 Peizhi-Tiger edition of The Epoch Times, in the issue following the one containing Avatar Aang's _The Virtues of Vegetarianism_. Due to its hyperbole, it was dismissed (and even praised) as a simple piece of humour. It is not until recently that some of its arguments have been recognized as deserving of further attention.

* * *

**NOTE: **Opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the author.


	26. Energybending

Hong, Avatar. Energybending.

This book as a survey of the known and suspected occurrences of Energybending in recorded history. Since only Avatars have ever been recorded to Energybend, Avatar Hong was in a unique position to comment on this phenomenon. The book is directed towards a more general audience than most of his other work, but the book was never very widely read.

For scholars of Avatar Aang, one of the most controversial parts of the book is Avatar Hong's vision. In the description of this vision, he states that he saw incredible beams of light shine from an Avatar and his adversary after a vicious fight in what was appeared to be a barren, rocky wasteland. Afterwards, this adversary attempted to Firebend, but could not. He says that his point of view was too far away from the action to identify the Avatar or the Firebender, but he intuitively felt that this was a vision of Avatar Aang's battle with Firelord Ozai. The vision is described in enough detail that debate is occurring over whether this identification was accurate. There were no known witnesses to this particular battle, so his claim is impossible to conclusively prove or disprove. However, some Avatar researchers speculate that Avatar Hong's vision may have been of a different battle. Avatar Gyatso's battle with the rebellious Duke of Feiwu took place in the rocky Valley of Erli-Tu, and ended with Avatar Gyatso taking the Duke's Firebending away from him. Though this battle occurred almost 20,000 years ago, it was well witnessed and legends of the battle have been passed down even to the present day. Though the descriptions are fragmentary, they agree in general with Avatar Hong's description. This is important because some scholars hold this vision as proof that Avatar Aang did indeed Energybend.


	27. Wisdom of the Avatars

Anonymous. Wisdom of the Avatars.

There are two very different books with this same title in general circulation, both published anonymously. While it is important to distinguish between them, it is easy to do so because of their vastly different content. For convenience, they will both be treated here.

One book is a compilation of quotes from various Avatars, many of dubious origin. It is meant for a general audience and includes only very short mentions of the sources for its quotes, so it is impossible to verify their authenticity. However, some scholars do not dismiss the book outright because some of its quotes, if authentic, throw new light onto situations that would otherwise be interpreted quite differently. For example, a quote attributed to Avatar Aang suggests that the Blue Spirit, wanted during Firelord Ozai's reign for rescuing Avatar Aang from a Fire Nation fortress, was in fact the exiled Prince Zuko. Mainstream thought holds that the Blue Spirit—who was never caught or positively identified—was an Earth Kingdom rebel.

The other book is much less interesting from a scholar's point of view. It is a compilation of advice on sexual intercourse, purportedly given by various Avatars. The book is most likely entirely fictional. Ironically, its "Avatar Aang" section is rather long.


	28. The Great March of Civilization

Zhu. The Great March of Civilization.

Dr. Zhu's latest work on the Hundred Years' War focuses on the Fire Nation concept of the "Great March of Civilization". The term occupied a prominent position in the Fire Nation propaganda of the time, even appearing in the national oath. Because of the central importance of the Great March of Civilization, Dr. Zhu has devoted an entire book to it.

The Great March of Civilization connotes the progression of the world as a whole from a state of barbarianism and savagery to a state of civilization and culture. Under this doctrine, the Fire Nation leads the world in this Great March by spreading its culture and technology. It justifies the Hundred Years' War by characterizing the Earth Kingdom, Water Tribes and Air Nomads as stubbornly resisting the Fire Nation's civilizing influence. The war was a last-ditch attempt to prevent them from sliding into irreparable ruin. Unfortunately, claimed the propagandists, the Air Nation (as they termed them) was beyond help; they died out because all of them were too stubborn to change their backwards ways. No mention would be made of the true nature of the genocide, nor the reasons behind it.

The doctrine of the Great March of Civilization was undoubtedly the cornerstone of Fire Nation propaganda during the Hundred Years' War. It was an integral part of the school curriculum, and deeply influenced history as taught in the classroom. Official newspapers unfailingly carried the latest updates on the Great March of Civilization. The concept was deeply ingrained in the Fire Nation psyche. It was officially abandoned as soon as Firelord Zuko came to power; he spent the whole of his rule trying to wipe the concept from the minds of his citizens.

Dr. Zhu's analysis of the Great March of Civilization is on the whole sound; however, many scholars feel that the term was not as widely spread in the Fire Nation as Dr. Zhu believes. Nevertheless, it is a useful summary of Fire Nation propaganda in general.


	29. Battle for the North Pole

Pei, and Pei. Battle for the North Pole.

_Battle for the North Pole_ chronicles the Siege of the North, also known as the Battle of the Spirit Oasis, an attempted invasion of the North Pole by the Fire Nation under the command of the infamous Zhao. Occurring in the final year of the Hundred Years' War, it was notable in many aspects. It was during the Battle of the North Pole that Zhao infamously tried to kill the Moon Spirit, which led to Avatar Aang's third entrance into the Avatar State (second, according to some historians). It is known that Avatar Aang had a strong distaste for entering the Avatar State, so the fact that he did so illustrates the gravity of the matter. Zhao himself died during the battle, and his forces were nearly decimated in the greatest military setback the Fire Nation had seen in years.

The notability of the battle notwithstanding, Drs. Pei and Pei's book is itself rather notable. Its disconcerting changes between third-person and first-person points of view have been the subject of unanimous criticism. The analyses of certain aspects of the battle have been found wanting; while Zhao was not exactly a brilliant military strategist, he was certainly more competent than Drs. Pei and Pei claim. In addition, the quality of their prose is uneven at best. Phrases such as "Now I shall throw some random facts about dimension at you" certainly have no place in scholarly writing. _Battle for the North Pole_ could have redeemed itself from these faults had it delivered some new insight into the battle; it does not. This book is now commonly used in writing seminars in the University of Gaoling and the Moon and Ocean Academy as an example of how not to write.


	30. Avatar Day

Tsen. Avatar Day.

On the request of the 55th Earth King, Lord Tsen wrote a short account of his village's traditional Avatar Day celebration. Its ultimate origins lie in the fall of Chin the Conqueror at the hands of Avatar Kyoshi, but in its present form it celebrates Avatar Aang saving the village from a Fire Nation attack during the Hundred Years' War. Prior to the attack, he had been on trial for the murder of Chin the Conqueror (really killed by Avatar Kyoshi); he was found guilty and was just about to be boiled in oil when a small Fire Nation force attacked the village. Avatar Aang and his friends successfully defended the village, and Avatar Day was rededicated in his honour. The traditional festival food was unfried dough (in memory of the fact that Avatar Aang was almost boiled in oil), but in recent years it has been superseded by half-baked cookies because they are more popular with tourists.

When this article was published, controversy erupted in Chin, with Lord Tsen being put on trial _in absentia_. The Lower Court of Chin Village found him guilty of libel, and Lord Tsen promptly appealed to the Chin Village Court of Appeals. This court acquitted him, but the case was taken to the District Court of Chin. Here he was again found guilty, though the court refused to state the offence he was guilty of. The case was then taken to the High Court of Chin, which found him innocent. The Supreme Court of Chin then heard the case, but the judges fell asleep and no verdict was handed down. Finally, the matter was settled by arbitration, with the mayor sentencing Lord Tsen to community service.


	31. The Infinitesimals Dispute

Best. The Infinitesimals Dispute.

Dr. Best's _The Infinitesimals Dispute_ has long been considered an authoritative account of the dispute between Firelord Zuko and Chief Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe. Some amount of mathematics is unavoidable in discussing this topic, but Dr. Best keeps the book as generally accessible as possible. He follows the reasoning that led to the theory of infinitesimals as developed by Firelord Zuko and Chief Sokka, as well the priority dispute that followed.

The Fire Nation mathematician, Song Wu, was able to apply a form of the method of exhaustion to find the area under a polynomial of up to degree 3. Firelord Zuko took interest in this work, and generalized it to find the area under a polynomial of arbitrary degree. Though his proof was found to be lacking, his result was correct and is now known either as "Zuko's Rule" or the "power rule" for the continuous summation of polynomials. Meanwhile, Chief Sokka had come into the possession of certain notes authored by a man known only as the Mechanist. These notes are lost, and no clues have been found as to their contents. However, it is known that Chief Sokka was inspired by these notes to develop the infinitesimal quotient. Subsequently, he was able to derive formulas for the infinitesimal quotient of various functions, as well as the product, quotient and composite function rules.

The great breakthrough for both men occurred during a visit to the Firelord's palace, where they noticed that taking the infinitesimal quotient of Firelord Zuko's formula for the area under a polynomial returned the original polynomial. After this visit, they separately developed this insight into a system now known as the theory of infinitesimals. Chief Sokka and Firelord Zuko published their results at almost the same time, and debate erupted as to who had priority for the development of this theory. Each man accused the other of stealing results during the aforementioned visit. While other accusations were thrown around, the debate centered around how much of each man's work was shown to the other. The Hundred Years' War, having been brought to a conclusion less than a decade prior, coloured the dispute. Mathematicians from the Earth Kingdom tended to support Chief Sokka, while Fire Nation scholars supported their Firelord. The debate threatened to spill over into the general population, potentially causing a breakdown in the uneasy peace of the time; in light of this, Avatar Aang decided to intervene.

By this point, the dispute had lasted two years. Chief Sokka and Firelord Zuko refused to see or speak to each other for most of that period. Avatar Aang suddenly made a proclamation to the effect that each man invented half of the theory, and that they developed the fundamental theorem (showing the relationship between continuous summation and the infinitesimal quotient) together. This had the effect of largely silencing the debate. Chief Sokka and Firelord Zuko were both shocked by this, and wanted to know why this was done. Avatar Aang arranged matters so that both men confronted him simultaneously. This occurred during dinner at the Avatar's temporary residence in Ba Sing Se; it degenerated into a food fight. In the aftermath of this food fight, Firelord Zuko and Chief Sokka acknowledged that Avatar Aang's account was not entirely inaccurate. They decided to leave the whole episode behind them, preferring debates about trade agreements to debates about research priority.

Dr. Best notes that neither men worked further on the theory of infinitesimals, and wryly points out that there should not have been any dispute in the first place. Firelord Zuko and Chief Sokka used very different concepts to derive the theory of infinitesimals, and their ideas afterwards developed in rather different directions.


	32. Who Had Priority?

Dongbu. "Firelord Zuko and Chief Sokka—Who Had Priority?" Annals of Mathematics. Vol. 124, No. 3.

This article was published by Dr. Dongbu, Chairman of the Omashu Academy for the Mathematical Sciences, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Chief Sokka's _A Theory of Infinitesimals_ and Firelord Zuko's _The Problem of Tangents and Areas_. It is a retrospective look at the two founding papers of the theory of infinitesimals, as well as the impact they had on mathematics and the sciences.

The true genius behind Chief Sokka and Firelord Zuko's papers was in the fact that they recognized the connection between the problem of tangents and the problem of areas. Though on the surface the appeared quite separate, Firelord Zuko and Chief Sokka were able to show that they were intimately related. However, relatively few of the formulas they derived were their own. Many of the results in their papers were derived earlier: Song Wu knew the continuous summation of polynomials up to degree 3, while Fong had worked in an unsystematic way with infinitesimal quotients during his work on kinematics. These two papers served to cast them into a coherent structure.

Unfortunately, the papers came under much criticism because of their lack of rigour. Bei-gu Li wrote a scathing book, _To the Wayward Mathematician_, in which he criticized (among other issues) Chief Sokka's liberal use of infinitesimal quantities, calling them "number-spirits on cactus juice". Firelord Zuko's work was more satisfactory in this regard, though his work does not match up to current standards of rigour. The theory of infinitesimals would not be placed onto a logically sound footing until Wei Si-ta and his definition of the limit.

With the advent of the theory of infinitesimals came the possibility of writing certain physical problems as equations involving infinitesimal quotients, enabling the solution of many new problems. This kind of equation would later become the subject of intense mathematical research. Another important application of the theory of infinitesimals was the concept of series expansions of functions, which Dr. Dongbu treats in great detail.

In the second-last paragraph of the article, Dr. Dongbu apologizes for the misleading title and says that he will now turn to that question. He then writes that Firelord Zuko, Chief Sokka _and Wei Si-ta _all shared equal merit in the invention of the theory of infinitesimals, but that no one had priority because they contributed in very different ways. (Wei Si-ta, by rigorously defining the limit, put the theory on a logically sound basis.) The article concludes by mentioning the role of the theory of infinitesimals in an interesting discovery: Sozin's Comet would never return, because it would collide with another planet in twenty years. (Though the calculations failed to take into account various effects, it proved accurate. Sozin's Comet no longer exists.)

It is almost certain that neither Chief Sokka nor Firelord Zuko read this article, though copies were sent to them as a courtesy. Princess Aki claimed that her father threw the journal out, thinking it was junk mail; and according to Chief Sokka's wife Suki, he casually flipped through the publication before promptly discarding it, never noticing the article.


	33. A Theory of Infinitesimals

Sokka. "A Theory of Infinitesimals." Annals of Mathematics. Vol. 74, No. 3.

This paper was one of the foundational papers of the theory of infinitesimals and the only mathematical paper Chief Sokka ever published. In it, he defines the infinitesimal quotient and continuous summation, and shows their connection. He then derives the sum, product, quotient, and composite function rules, as well as the infinitesimal quotient of various kinds of functions. Unlike Firelord Zuko, he was able to derive the infinitesimal quotient of the trigonometric functions. The last part of the paper is dedicated to applications of the infinitesimals theory.

Chief Sokka's use of infinitesimals to derive his theory is the historical origin of the name "theory of infinitesimals". Though they soon fell out of favour with mathematicians, infinitesimals were recently placed on a solid logical basis with Luo Bin's work on non-standard analysis and now sees increasing use.

Since the time of the publication of _A Theory of Infinitesimals_, the Annals of Mathematics has become known for publishing papers of relatively low quality. It justifies its lax standards in part by pointing to Chief Sokka's paper. It is plagued with informal writing and insufficient rigour; his "proof" of the composite function rule, for example, does not take into account division by zero. Also, his customary humour is by no means absent in this paper: his final "application" is a detailed calculation of how long he would live after angering his wife! Three other journals rejected it, and even the Annals of Mathematics had issues with it. However, the editor decided to publish it as it was, and the paper went on to create waves in the mathematical world.

Chief Sokka worked on this paper during a stay on Kyoshi Island, and sent it off to publication while there. Firelord Zuko published his work on the infinitesimals theory at the same time, leading to the infamous Infinitesimals Priority dispute. Later mathematicians focused more on the logical shortcomings of the theory, with Bei-gu Li writing a scathing commentary on it. However, the theory is now widely accepted, and forms an integral part of higher mathematics.


	34. The Problem of Tangents and Areas

Zuko. "The Problem of Tangents and Areas." Journal of the Fire Nation Mathematical Society. Vol. 10, No. 8.

Along with Chief Sokka's _A Theory of Infinitesimals_, Firelord Zuko's _The Problems of Tangents and Areas_ is one of the two seminal papers in the theory of infinitesimals. He introduces continuous summation first, then defines the infinitesimal quotient. He then proves the Fundamental Theorem of the infinitesimals theory—the heart and soul of the paper. In his conclusion, he applies his methods to find the areas under various simple functions, showing that his work agrees with previously-known formulas.

Many students of the theory of infinitesimals are surprised to find that Firelord Zuko never derived the formula for the infinitesimal quotient of composite functions, and that he did not know the infinitesimal quotient of the trigonometric functions. (He did conjecture that the continuous summation of cosine was sine, but could not prove it.) It is obvious he tried to be quite careful in proving his results—in contrast to Chief Sokka, who habitually made leaps of logic in proving results—and thus did not derive a number of formulas now considered to be quite elementary. He never used infinitesimals as Chief Sokka did; instead, he used what we now recognize as limiting processes. Wei Si-ta's definition of the limit was, in fact, only a formal statement of Firelord Zuko's technique of allowing quantities to "approach closer and closer" to one another.

In light of the fairly high quality of this paper and the fact that Firelord Zuko had never formally studied mathematics beyond basic algebra, it has been conjectured that someone had assisted him in writing it. However, there seems to be no one in the Fire Nation court at the time who could have rendered such assistance. Regardless, the infamous Infinitesimals Priority dispute erupted when the paper was published. The resolution of this dispute is as famous as the dispute itself: in a three-way food fight, Avatar Aang defeated Firelord Zuko and Chief Sokka so soundly that they agreed to drop their disagreements. Firelord Zuko never again published another academic paper.


	35. The Adventures of Pvt Wang Fire

Wang. The Adventures of Pvt. Wang Fire.

_The Adventures of Pvt. Wang Fire_ is a novel written by Wang some years after the Hundred Years' War. Originally a private in the Fire Nation army during that war, he managed to remain in the army through the purges of Yiwen-Boar because of his loyalty to Firelord Zuko and his devotion to world peace. He retired after attaining the rank of colonel and became a calligrapher. During this time, he began work on this novel.

It is said that he was inspired by a tale in which Avatar Aang enrolled in a Fire Nation school during the War. According to this tale, Avatar Aang so thoroughly displeased the headmaster that he was required to bring his parents for an interview within a few days of enrolling. Not able to bring his true parents, he brought Katara and Sokka—later Chief of the united Southern Water Tribe—instead. Sokka took on the name "Wang Fire" for this interview, whence the name of Wang's character.

The premise of the novel is that Sokka, in an attempt to learn more about the Fire Nation army, disguises himself as Wang Fire and enlists in the army. He suffers through army training and undergoes many adventures while desperately trying to keep his identity secret. Near the end, he tries to escape; however, he is caught just as he returns to the Avatar and his friends. "Private Fire" manages to convince his commanding officer that he has actually uncovered a band of rebels, and fakes a heroic death.

_The Adventures _circulated only in unpublished manuscripts for about fifty years after Wang's death. Eventually a copy reached the hands of Chief Kulik, eldest son of Chief Sokka, who found it so amusing that he tracked down Wang's granddaughter and convinced her to have it published. His foreword, in which he claims that "there is no essential difference between [his] father and the Wang Fire of this novel", is famous for the ending line "To Wang Fire!". _The Adventures _was an instant hit, and is now considered one of the greatest pieces of satire ever written.


	36. The Last Sky Bison

Yangten. The Last Sky Bison.

The death of Appa, Avatar Aang's animal companion and the last known sky bison to ever have lived, inspired Yangten to compose an elegy in his honour. This elegy, inscribed on the walls of the shrine where Appa's ashes are located, was the first version of the poem that would become _The Last Sky Bison_. Over ten years, Yangten continually revised this elegy, eventually rewriting it into its present form.

The poem begins with an idealized account of Appa's birth and his first encounter with Avatar Aang. Following this, Yangten recounts Appa's role in the Hundred Years' War, with emphasis on the pain Avatar Aang felt when the Dai Li kidnapped Appa. Yangten then enlarges on the crucial role Appa plays in delivering supplies to needy Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation farmers after the War. The rest of the poem continues likewise, recounting the events of Appa's life. In the end, Yangten laments the fact that Appa is dead, and that the world will never again see a sky bison.

_The Last Sky Bison_ is very popular among the Air Nomads, and their writings often contain allusions to the poem. Though it is less known in the other nations, its influence can be felt in one aspect of poetry: it was one of the first poems to employ lines of differing lengths to achieve dramatic effects. This technique is best illustrated in the section where Appa is almost murdered by Fire Supremacists, where the number of characters in each line slowly decrease from seven to two, conveying a sense of urgency. While most commentators have expressed admiration of the poem in general, this section is almost always singled out for praise.

As for the historical accuracy of the poem, it is unlikely to be very reliable. Some have argued that Yangten, a grandson of Avatar Aang, would be less likely to distort the truth. There is no evidence for this assertion apart from the fact that, with allowances for artistic liberty, the poem is not at variance with more reliable sources. The poem is therefore not very valuable in this respect except as an additional confirmation that certain events, narrated elsewhere, may have occurred. However, as a classic of the post-War Air Nomad literature there are very few who would dispute its significance.


	37. Avatars and their Animal Friends

Cheung. Avatars and their Animal Friends.

Few books have been written that focus exclusively on the various Avatars' animal companions, and only three now exist that have any scholarly value. Of these, Cheung's _Avatars and their Animal Friends_ is the most recent, the most accessible and the most comprehensive. (_The Fallen Stone_ concerns only Air Nomad Avatars before Avatar Aaldrup, while the sole extant copy of _Comrades of the Great Bridge Spirit_ is in a private collection. Both are at least 10,000 years old.) It is justifiably called "comprehensive": animal companions were already almost unknown in Cheung's time, and there have been none since. Indeed, this lack of animal companions was the reason why this book was written. Cheung's closest friend was Avatar Yinsi, who was concerned that his past lives' animal companions were already largely forgotten. He asked Cheung to write this book so that the memory of these animal companions would live on.

In the case of Appa, Avatar Aang's sky bison, Cheung has little to contribute that is not already contained in the multiple biographies on that Avatar. He does describe in more detail than usual the incident in the Si Wong Desert, as well as the attempted assassination of Appa by Fire Supremacists some years after the end of the Hundred Years' War. The material about Appa after the death of Avatar Aang is scarcely more notable, though Appa outlived his master by some ten years. We learn merely that Appa took a liking to Avatar Aang's youngest son, Gyatso, and followed him to the Southern Air Temple during the beginnings of the Air Nomad revival. There, it is apparent that Appa lived out his final days in peace before passing away. A shrine was soon after constructed in his honour at the Southern Air Temple, where his ashes rest to this day.

It is to be regretted that Cheung did not consider Momo, Avatar Aang's pet flying lemur, to be within the scope of his book. Remarkably little scholarly attention has been devoted to Momo, who was certainly no less a faithful companion of the Avatar than Appa was. The only mention of Momo in this book is a couple of sentences mentioning that the ashes of Momo and his family—the last flying lemurs known to have existed—rest in a shrine adjacent to Appa's.

Avatar Aang is the last Avatar to be written about in this book. However, he was not the last Avatar with an animal companion; this distinction goes to Avatar Patiba, two incarnations later. She and her badgermole are, however, merely mentioned in passing in the conclusion.

Cheung wrote remarkably insightful commentaries on the historical facts he presents in this book. His ability to gather information, though, leaves something to be desired. Historians grumble but little, however; it is clear that if Cheung had not written this book, invaluable insights into many of the Avatar's incarnations would have been irretrievably lost.

The Society for Avataric Researches would like to thank snow-birdy for bringing this book to our attention.


	38. The Fire Temple Defenestrations

Shyu; ed. Zhenci. The Fire Temple Defenestrations.

This book consists of excerpts from Chief Fire Sage Shyu's published and unpublished writings concerning the Fire Temple Defenestrations, compiled and edited by Zhenci. Official statements made in his capacity as Chief Fire Sage, excerpts from letters written to Avatar Aang, and writings of a more personal nature are included. Zhenci limits himself to adding introductions and footnotes to each excerpt, though the latter are rather extensive in nature.

Shyu's letter to his wife about the incident, along with his report to Avatar Aang, form the first third of the book. He writes that on the summer solstice of the year Yiwen-Boar, Firelord Zuko and his court revived the tradition of making offerings to the Sun at the Fire Temple. After the ritual, Shyu delivered a short speech on behalf of the absent Avatar Aang. Firelord Zuko also made a speech, emphasizing that his intention that day was to seek the Sun's blessing upon his efforts towards world peace, and announcing his plans to move further towards that goal by massively reducing the size of the military. War Minister Han, already unhappy with the Firelord's recent decisions, protested loudly. This provoked the Culture Minister, Jee, into berating him for disrespecting the Firelord. This in turn led two of the generals to accuse the Ministry of Culture of being irrelevant. The Grand Secretary shouted that the Ministry of War was even more irrelevant, and chaos ensued. All attempts to restore order failed, and before long the ministers were Firebending at each other. The Fire Sages, along with Firelord Zuko, were making their way out of the chamber when a great crash was heard. They rushed outside, where they found that Jee had been thrown out a window. Just as he was placed on a stretcher, another body fell close by. It was a general whom Shyu could not identify; he was followed by another unknown general. Arrangements were hastily made to catch any more defenestration victims, but there were none. Culture Minister Jee survived with no permanent injuries; since the identities of the defenestrated generals are not known, it is unknown whether they met with the same good fortune.

The following twelve excerpts are from the month or so after the incident, during which public protests were commonplace. In Shyu's official announcements he limited himself to denouncing the ministers' shameful behaviour at such a sacred occasion, but his private correspondence show that he was saddened by their stubbornness. He expressed some puzzlement over the protests as they progressed: the Defenestrations were a result of Firelord Zuko's military policy, but the protests became largely about national identity and foreign policy. (Zhenci notes that the Firelord was so unpopular at this time that there were even cries for Ozai's return—a treasonous offence. Firelord Zuko, who is so highly-regarded nowadays that he is called "the Great" despite there being no Zuko II, only became popular in his later years.)

The remaining excerpts build on Shyu's opinions of the events. Notably, they show some frustration at Avatar Aang for not being able to come to the Fire Nation; he was in the Earth Kingdom, coordinating relief efforts and removing the last vestiges of Dai Li influence (the first Dai Li, not the modern intelligence organization). Shyu was also unhappy with Firelord Zuko's decision to stop sending aid to the other nations, though he acknowledges that this action silenced most of the protests. As a "consolation", the shift in emphasis in the public protests meant that Firelord Zuko was able to carry out his plans for downsizing the military—with small changes intended to placate the Ministry of War.

Already in Zhenci's time the documents reproduced in _The Fire Temple Defenestrations_ were difficult to access. He was, however, convinced that the material would be of great use to historians if published, and for this reason sought permission from Firelord Iroh III (the Flat-Footed) to access and reproduce the documents. Zhenci being a well-known figure in the palace, permission was readily granted. The original documents are now effectively lost, but thanks to Zhenci's work an important primary source has been preserved for posterity.


	39. Acts of the Kyoshi Warriors

Omuni _et al._ Acts of the Kyoshi Warriors. Vol. 2.

Of the forty-four volumes in which the colourful history of the Kyoshi Warriors—and by extension the history of Kyoshi Island itself—is recorded, the second volume, inscribed "Hundred Years' War; Avatar Aang", is of greatest interest here. Avatar Aang does not appear until near the middle of the volume; the first half records the appointment of Suki as the new leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, and various other matters of little importance.

The first mention of Avatar Aang, predictably enough, concerns his first arrival at Kyoshi. He and his companions had been arrested by the Kyoshi Warriors as trespassers, but he proved his identity by a feat of Airbending. Once he did this, the population received him very enthusiastically. Unfortunately, Prince (later Firelord) Zuko came and set fire to the village in an attempt to capture the Avatar. The Avatar was forced to flee, but before doing so he managed to quell the flames by causing the Unagi to spray the village with water.

This incident inspired the Kyoshi Warriors to aid Earth Kingdom refugees, effectively ending ninety-nine years of Kyoshian neutrality. Originally they worked to escort refugees to Full Moon Bay, but they later stayed there to act as security guards. Here they briefly met the Avatar and his friends again; they were seeking passage through the Bay because Appa had gone missing at the time. The Kyoshi Warriors in fact ran into Appa not long after, but they were in turn discovered and captured by a Fire Nation princess. (Omuni does not name the princess, but it is clearly Firelord Zuko's sister Azula.) They were taken prisoner; upon arrival in the Fire Nation they were imprisoned in Dunchong Prison. Not long after that, Suki—being the leader—was separated from the other Warriors and taken to the Boiling Rock, a maximum-security prison.

Ironically, Suki was the first one to leave prison. Sokka (later Chief of the united Southern Water Tribe) and then-Prince Zuko had infiltrated the Boiling Rock following the Day of Black Sun invasion in order to rescue Sokka's father, Chief Hakoda; when Suki was discovered there, Sokka rescued her as well. Subsequently, Suki accompanied Sokka and Toph to sabotage the Fire Nation airship fleet on the day of the return of Sozin's Comet. During this mission Sokka and Toph came very close to losing their lives, but Suki's quick acting saved them from death. Meanwhile, the other Kyoshi Warriors were able to escape during the Second Riot of Dunchong Prison, reuniting with Suki at Firelord Zuko's coronation. The Warriors accepted a new member at this time: Ty Lee, a former associate of the aforementioned princess.

After the Hundred Years' War, the Kyoshi Warriors headed to the Earth Kingdom along with Avatar Aang to organize and aid reconstruction efforts, though they remained behind after the Avatar left for the Fire Nation. During this time they concentrated on rebuilding the outlying towns hardest hit by the invasion. After the Treaty of Omashu—in which the details of the handover of the Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom were established—the Warriors were called upon to keep order during the various handovers to prevent the inevitable rise of crime and the occasional riot.

All this aid tired out the Kyoshi Warriors, and they returned to Kyoshi three years after the end of the war. Upon their homecoming they were greeted with a great banquet. In attendance were Avatar Aang and his companions, along with Grand Prince Iroh of the Fire Nation and General How of Ba Sing Se. All these dignitaries expressed the highest praise for the selfless work of the Warriors.

No later than a month after this, Suki began travelling with the Avatar on his wide-ranging journeys. After the end of one such trip, she returned to Kyoshi to make a surprising announcement: she wanted to give up her post as leader of the Kyoshi Warriors to marry Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe. After some debate it was decided that she would not resign her position, but that a deputy would take on her duties in her absence. Contrary to common belief, this deputy was not Ty Lee of the Fire Nation; she became leader much later.

As the volume ends, the Kyoshi Warriors and Kyoshi Island itself reverted to a more isolated state (though traders and visitors were welcomed). Both Suki and Avatar Aang are mentioned only in passing in the next volume.


	40. Appendix

I know there is a rule against putting author notes as a separate chapter, but I personally think there is enough fiction here for me to get away with it. You won't report me, right? [smiles unconvincingly] Without further ado, then, I present to you...the

Appendix

_General Notes  
_Until now, I have managed to avoid author notes. I had always considered that it would detract from the professionalism I was trying to achieve. Then I realized: Dude, this is fanfiction.

There has been a couple of people asking me about the Infinitesimals Priority Dispute, and even a few guesses. Unfortunately, these guesses were wrong because the truth was too random! In fact, it is the Avatar version of the dispute about who invented calculus. Now that I've posted an annotation for Dr. Best's _The Infinitesimals Dispute, _the "secret" is out! For more details, see below.

I know that this is not a conventional annotated bibliography. Apart from the lack of proper citations, the annotations are way too long. I explain these anomalies as follows: scholarship in the Avatar World evolved differently. They don't care which publisher published a book. As long as they can get a hold of the title and author (and edition, if need be), scholars there are fine. As for the annotations, I give here an excerpt from...the

Preface to the 11th Edition of the _Annotated Bibliography of the Avatar_

[...] The recent earthquake in Ba Sing Se and the subsequent destruction of countless priceless manuscripts have placed the Bibliography in a unique position: it is now the sole record of many, many lost documents. In it are preserved, in the form of our annotations, the last vestiges of much lost knowledge. In light of this sad development, the editorial board has implemented a new policy. We have decided to expand the annotations where appropriate, to form a better summary and evaluation of each document. It is hoped that this policy will aid in the preservation of knowledge should any such event occur again. [...]

In other words, the Annotated Bibliography evolved over time into something quite different from what its title implies (and also quite different from what it started out as). And no, I did not pull the above excerpt out of my ass. I was going to put it in the Preface to the 20th Edition, but decided not to. Anyways, my final justification is this: artistic licence.

Speaking of which, I completely made up the lives of the Gaang after the war. It is all original. I usually make it up on the spot, but I try to be consistent. As for events before and during the war, I try to be as faithful as possible to canon as a matter of course...which leads me to the numbering of the Avatars that some readers may have noticed. I estimated the number of Avatars (assuming there is a finite number of them) by estimating the number of Avatar statues found in the sanctuary of the Southern Air Temple. My estimate gave me about 310. Assuming an average lifespan of about 75 years, this sets the time of the First Avatar at well over 20,000 years ago. You are welcome to debate with me on this; I only did this because I needed a number.

It may be of interest that the Avatar Hong sometimes referred to (and whom I made up) was a bookworm of an Avatar who took up a position as a professor of history instead of keeping balance in the world the conventional way. I have placed him at seven reincarnations after Aang—he is the second Fire Nation Avatar after Avatar Roku.

_Avatar Aang: Collected Letters_  
Letter 194 began as follows: "To the idiot who sits on the throne of Ba Sing Se: What the hell have you been doing?..."

_Life of Avatar Aang  
_You may interpret "hundred-and-sixties" to refer to Aang's biological age or his chronological age. It matters not to me.

_My Husband, the Avatar  
_If you're wondering whether I really think Katara wrote porn about her relationship with Aang: no.

Sab-I Luoman is…well…sound it out.

_A Cabbage Merchant Remembers  
_Ga'ai-shi, the name I gave to the Cabbage Merchant, is an anomalous transliteration of the Cantonese word for "street market".

_Lives of the Avatars  
_See the Preface if you don't remember this one.

_The Cave of Two Lovers, Wan Shi Tong's Library and Energybending: A Critical Analysis of the Available Evidence  
_1/8 Riwu-Monkey is to be read as "the first day of the eighth month of the year Riwu-Monkey". This is taken from the reading on the calendar in Wan Shi Tong's planetarium when Sokka and Aang finds the date of the next eclipse. In Chinese it would be much better intelligible: 氜武猴年八月一日. Riwu, or 氜武, is a year-name that appears to be paired with an animal from the Chinese zodiac to give the name of a particular year. In accordance with this, I took "Yuanzheng" from another reading on the dial and randomly paired it with the Serpent to give "Yuanzheng-Serpent".

_The Rise of Firelord Zuko  
_The reason Zuko's acts before his coronation were not included in _Firelord Ozai: Rise, Reign, Downfall_ (Ozai's official biography) is because that book was too full of criticisms of Ozai for there to be any room for Zuko. I think. Also, Irah is _not _the same as Ilah. I like to imagine that Zuko wanted to name a child after his uncle.

One example of the inconsistency of the RFNHA's work: they praise Sokka's ingenuity in the beginning and end of _The Rise of Firelord Zuko_, but damn him up and down for being a plagiarist in the middle part. That's what you get when you get a government organization to write a biography!

_Son of the Avatar: A Diary  
_The original title of Jinzu's diary was "Meditations and Discourses on Human Nature from First Principles, in which is shown that the Desire and Will to Live, or to Perpetuate Oneself by any Method, is the cause by which Humans, and in general all Living Beings possessed of Sentience or not, act in the way we observe them to; and in which is exposed as an overarching Fallacy of Human Thought the Notion that there can be any Distinction made between True and False Knowledge, it being shown that the Human Mind, and in general any thing capable of Thought, is to a great Degree completely incapable of distinguishing between Truth and Falsity; and from these and other First Principles, set on the ground of impervious Logic, the closest tool available to Human Beings of acquiring Knowledge, it is finally shown that Existence itself is a Grand Fallacy, there being, in truth, nothing existing at all except Nothingness itself". No word of a lie.

With this instalment, all of Aang and Katara's children except the first and last ones have been named. Can you guess the names of the oldest and youngest of their children?

If you are wondering what happened to the recipe after it was found: Katara had wished for the recipe to be passed down to her eldest daughter, and left her a secret note to that effect. Her daughter simply took the recipe after it was found and forgot to tell anyone about it. As for the unrecognizable handwriting…your guess is as good as mine!

_Four Variations on "It's a Long, Long Way to Ba Sing Se"  
_I always thought Aang would make a great musician; that, as well as the song "It's a Long, Long Way to Ba Sing Se", inspired me to write this one. I figure, though, that good ol' angsty Zuko would make a better one!

_The Avatar Returns  
_In a fit of madness, induced by my first watching of _The Ember Island Players_, I wrote a title page, a "Foreword from the Librettist" and the first few lines of a libretto for an opera entitled _The Avatar Returns_ in response to Pu-on Tim's crappy play. I then told my friends I'd write an _Avatar_ opera. Unfortunately (or fortunately, rather), that opera went nowhere. However, the Foreword and the beginning of the opera are still sitting on my hard drive. Now I can put them to use!

A leitmotif is a distinctive musical theme or other "coherent musical idea, clearly defined so as to retain its identity if modified on subsequent appearances, whose purpose is to represent or symbolize a person, object, place, idea, state of mind, supernatural force or any other ingredient in a dramatic work" (Grove Music Online). The music of _Avatar_ is so ridiculously full of them, one could almost figure out the action just by listening to the music! The "Avatar leitmotif", of course, is the four-note sequence that shows up anytime anything distinctly Avatar-related comes up. At the very end of the very last episode, it's that leitmotif that ends it all. To me, _Avatar_ just isn't _Avatar_ without it.

I know someone else—I think their pen name was samtana—calls them idées fixes. That is another name for leitmotifs, but I don't like calling them that. It smacks too much of Berlioz. Berlioz sucks—his most famous idée fixe, from his _Symphonie fantastique_, is not nearly as distinctive as the ones in _Avatar_. In fact, no matter how many times I listen to that demented piece I never hear it! But that's just me.

_Remembering Toph Beifong_  
Well, not _everyone_ could have a happy ending! Poor Toph, going out with her students to prove to herself she wasn't actually in love with Sokka…

_Almost Firelord: Princess Azula's Life  
_I wonder how Azula would feel if she knew that, despite all her accomplishments, barely anyone remembers her?

_The Virtues of Vegetarianism_  
The Epoch Times is a real newspaper. Its editorial policies can be…questionable.

_Energybending_  
I realize this is getting slightly old. To be honest, I'm just going through my list of titles while I figure out the details of my next mini-series. Wang Fire, anyone?

_Battle for the North Pole_  
"Now I shall throw some random facts about dimension at you" is an actual quote from one of my professors. He's named Dr. Pei (what a coincidence!), and couldn't teach a kangaroo how to jump if his life depended on it.

_The Infinitesimals Dispute_  
Finally, it's out! The Infinitesimals Priority Dispute is really just the calculus priority dispute in disguise. When I read about Newton and Leibniz squabbling over who invented calculus first, I was inspired to import it into the Avatar world. But who would be ingenious enough to come up with calculus? Almost immediately the answer came to me: Sokka and Zuko. Out of the many major and minor characters in _Avatar_, they seemed to me the only viable options. Azula would have been able to do it if she set her mind to it, but she went crazy; probably also the Mechanist, but in my conception he only worked on differential calculus. Besides, a Sokka and Zuko squabble appealed to me.

This is not the place to discuss the principles of calculus, unfortunately. It would take too much space. I leave that task to more competent hands.

You'll notice that some of the mathematical terms I used are different from the ones used in real life. It's a different world, after all. When they develop a concept, who says they have to use the same name for it that we do?

For the convenience of mathematically-minded readers, here is a list of the terms I used and their real-world equivalents (though such readers could probably figure them out anyways):  
theory of infinitesimals: calculus  
infinitesimal quotient: derivative  
continuous summation: (definite) integral

I never did come up with a term for the indefinite integral—it turned out I didn't need it—but I played with "inverse infinitesimal quotient".

I did not assign the roles of Leibniz and Newton to Zuko and Sokka, nor did I attempt to reproduce mathematical history literally. Rather, I thought about what would influence them to invent calculus, and how they would develop it given their personalities. If the history I made up seems unrealistic, that's the reason. Do forgive me, and certainly let me know!

The product rule for derivatives is sometimes called the "Leibniz rule". This inspired me to name the power rule (for integrals) "Zuko's rule".

As a final note, Dr. Best was my calculus professor for my first term in university. He really is the best (pun intended)!

_Firelord Zuko and Chief Sokka—Who Had Priority?_  
You know, I could never write a fanfic without making ridiculous references to remotely related topics. Hence, this whole "Zuko and Sokka invents calculus" thing. There are a number of references to actual mathematicians and quotes in this one. See if you can't identify them!

_A Theory of Infinitesimals  
_Lifespan after angering Suki: if carrying sword and boomerang, 5.7 minutes. If carrying only boomerang, 3.3 minutes. If carrying only sword, 3.1 minutes. If carrying neither, 5.5 seconds.

_Avatars and their Animal Friends  
_Avatar Yinsi came just before Avatar Hong. He was convinced that he was destined to live a life of adventure (which he mostly did), and was also something of a womanizer. (Aang had seven children. Yinsi had seven _wives_.) So that should give you a sense of timing as to when this book was written... and also why Cheung wrote the book, not Yinsi himself.

And yes, you read right: Momo _and family_. Turns out a female flying lemur had fallen into the hands of an Earth Kingdom noble, who was attempting to breed a flying turtleduck-lemur. Aang tried to buy her for money, but the nobleman refused. No one really knows how Aang got her in the end, but that nobleman never showed his face during the full moon ever since.

_The Fire Temple Defenestrations_  
Yes, I'm still among the living! It may be four months, but by God I haven't forgotten about this fic! I haven't been posting stuff because I've just gone through a very difficult term. (I'm in physics, and this term they forced quantum mechanics down our throats. You know, Schrödinger's cat that's both alive and dead at the same time, wave-particle duality, that sort of thing... If you think this stuff is conceptually hard, try doing the math!) Hopefully I'll be able to put up another chapter or two during the holidays. But for now, we have actual notes!

By the time this incident takes place, Zuko had pretty much replaced all the ministers with people more-or-less loyal to him. That means Qin, the old War Minister, was tending his little garden in some obscure corner of the Fire Nation when all this happened. Unfortunately, in this particular case it was a bad move replacing the easily-cowed Qin with the not-so-easily-cowed Han. Should have listened to Iroh...

As for the Culture Minister: yes, that's the same Jee who was lieutenant on Zuko's old ship. He was sick of fighting, so when Zuko offered him a job he decided he wanted to organize performances of Pu-on Tim plays instead of fussing over the troops. Unlike many, he actually got a laugh out of _The Boy in the Iceberg._

* * *

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